Phoenix budget notes

Phoenix budget notes

• The Phoenix City Council is scheduled to adopt the 2010-11 general-fund budget of $1.01 billion on Wednesday.

• The city's 2010-11 general fund is $185.5 million, or 15.5 percent, less than the peak budget in 2007-08.

• When the 2009-10 budget was approved last year, the city estimated sales-tax growth of 7.5 percent. That figure had to be corrected mid-budget to a 5.4 percent decrease.

• The city has 1,500 fewer employees today than it did two years ago. "This wasn't just moving around and shuffling positions," City Manager David Cavazos said. "These are real, not make-believe, people who have left the organization."

• Seventy percent of the city's general-fund budget pays for public safety, including police, fire, courts, prosecutors and public defenders.

• The city negotiated employee concessions with the unions, which agreed to 3.2 percent pay and benefit reductions. The concessions are expected to save Phoenix $70.6 million over the next two years.